Packaging: Who wouldn’t want to sip on good beer while participating in a revolution? Rogue’s appealing packaging excites the activist in all of us. With each bottle displaying a smart faced beer drinker with a raised fist, I feel more solidarity every time I take a sip.

Appearance: This beer is a deep espresso brown with a caramel colored froth of medium thickness.

Smell: The smell is hard to describe. It’s a grainy coffee oat-like smell and…is that hazelnut? I can’t be sure. I think I’ve smelled so many delicious oatmeal stouts in my time. It’s like trying to compare the different aromas in two apple pies. Grainy coffee oat like hazelnut smell will have to do.

Taste: Crisper than I expected. Certainly crisper than I’m interested in for a stout. It’s not as creamy as most oatmeal stouts and I don’t hugely mind because it’s a stout in any case. Full bodied with a heavy after taste. Burnt chocolate, coffee taste that seems a bit dense, but with just the perfect hint of smoke. Strikes a soothing balance between the smoke and the grain flavors.